The primary topic of my reflection this week is based on the film “Most Likely to Succeed,” which introduced viewers to High Tech High, a non-conventional high school that focuses on skill development. This film led me to reflect upon my experience in high school. Did my school set me up for success in life? In school, I was always a very dedicated student. My grade point average upon graduation was 96%, and I was always very proud of that. It led me to the University of Victoria with multiple scholarships. However, when I arrived, I did not know what I wanted to do. While I was achieving very high marks in all my classes, I focused too much on the grade and not enough on what I enjoyed. Entering university as a general science major, undeclared, I thought maybe it would just come to me. Unfortunately for me, and my finances, it took multiple years, multiple classes from a wide variety of departments at the university, and multiple major changes to eventually land right back where I began, in the faculty of science. If I could tell myself in high school that I would have majored in biology, I wouldn’t believe myself. Biology was the one class I did not like. I thought I was awful at biology, since I had gotten 89% on the first test. Because of this, I could not realize that I really enjoyed biology. I think the structure of school when I was a student was so heavily focused on grades and scholarships, it did not allow me to explore my own interests. While part of this is certainly due to the high expectations I had for myself, I believe this began through pressure from teachers and school. The system in place at High Tech High would certainly alleviate this pressure, but I did find myself thinking like Samantha’s mother, who was concerned about the validity of this education. My main concern regarding this type of education is how these students will perform in post-secondary. While not every student will continue onto post-secondary, some will, and this system may leave students with gaps in their formal knowledge. In discussion with my classmates, we discussed that while these students may lack certain knowledge crucial to success in post-secondary, they will acquire skills that many students from traditional schools may lack. We predicted that graduates of High Tech High may have more interpersonal skills and problem solving, as well as more thurough understandings of unique skills, such as the complex computer and engineering-type skills the students who worked on the gears project gained. These skills would be much harder to acquire in a traditional school. Graduates from a traditional school would, however, be more likely to have study skills and prerequisite knowledge for post-secondary. I think that an ideal system would pull from both the traditional school experience and the methods of High Tech High. Students should have some formal education of course, but should be allowed and encouraged to explore their interests and learn practical skills. The Buck Institute for Education concurred with my view, writing that “…[as wonderful] as it is, it’s ‘on the high end of the scale’ of schools using [project-based learning].” It is also noted that this system would “…be hard to replicate everywhere,” (My PLB Works Blog). This is one of my concerns as well, as it is such a drastically different type of education when compared to traditional schools. Another concern I had about this system is how it would translate to younger students. I don’t think a program like this would work for elementary and middle years.
Throughout the teacher education program, we have been asked to create many lesson plans. As a very Type-A person, planning a lesson down to the minute is exactly how I would like to operate. However, I can see some clear benefits of the learning plan approach. The creation of a learning plan, which can act as long-term roadmap that helps guide learning, is much more flexible than the rigid and traditional lesson plan. It often outlines skill development, goals, methods, and progress over time. Learning plans are more adaptable and often expand beyond the walls of the classroom. They help students to set and achieve goals, often on a more personalized level. Lesson plans, on the other hand, are great ways to stay organized and ensure a class is moving at the correct pace. Lesson plans are often well thought out and involve plans for engaging activities and resources. There are many wonderful templates for lesson plans as well, such as Teacher Planet, which has over 500 lesson plan templates available for free. Learning planning is much more vague and not as many resources exist to help teachers and students. One downside of lesson planning is that it may not be as equitable for all students in the class. It is well known that one size does not fit all in the classroom.I would say that the structure of High Tech High leads itself to learning plans more than lesson plans, whereas traditional schools may more commonly use lesson plans. I think that there are many benefits to using both in a classroom, and I think that ideally traditional schools would begin to use a combination of both.
Photo by Yan Krukau: https://www.pexels.com/photo/board-with-lesson-1-on-table-8617776/